Ryn
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Chapter 351
🕑 Added 2025-05-06 19:00:03 +0000 UTCKanen POV
He left Lord Violet and his daughter with a sour taste in his mouth. Nothing really had gone his way and there was nothing he could have done to change that either. He was merely in such an awful situation.
Who would have imagined that House Violet would decide to protect the boy so fervently? They always made the best decision for the betterment of their House. Therefore, the emotional response took Kanen by surprise. He knew Lord Violet loved his daughter dearly, but he didn’t think the man would go so far.
It didn’t help that Elder Delton had been playing around too much. That was the whole reason why Clan Genshen was in this mess. If Delton hadn't been too busy licking the Conclave's feet, Clan Genshen would not be in this situation.
Or that was what Kanen believed. He actually didn’t know if Delton created this contract because of the Conclave, but for the past few years, almost all of his decisions had come from their requests. So it wouldn’t be a stretch to guess that.
He could understand where Delton was coming from as well. As one of the older elders within the Clan, he had a lot of influence. However, he was still Tier 5, and his only chance was to rely on the Conclave to help him advance. Otherwise, he would die out in a decade or so if things stayed where they were.
It was just sad that he had to go about it this way. Most of the others within the Clan didn’t mind Delton’s actions. Most of the time, they didn’t drastically impact the Clan and its own interests. It wasn’t like Clan Genshen was a noble House known for their honor. They were a Clan of killers and mercenaries for the most part.
However, Delton had gotten them in trouble with House Violet, arguably one of the worst Houses they could have offended in terms of how much they could negatively affect Clan Genshen’s operations. House Violet mainly operated in the eastern regions of the Empire, but make no mistake, they had a hand in every city in the Empire.
They were one of the main traders when it came to selling materials and various goods in that particular region. They were trusted by every large organization and business, which meant many people liked to do transactions with House Violet as a guarantor.
Hell, even Clan Genshen had often used House Violet to facilitate deals and negotiations. They were just that well established.
This reputation of being honest merchants and businesspeople ensured they were well respected and thus very powerful. Therefore, offending them was paramount as economic suicide. If they were to ban Clan Genshen from doing business with them and their partners, it would cripple Clan Genshen’s revenue stream. They would even be limited in where they could organize their missions.
Clan Genshen often advertised certain jobs or services using House Violet’s properties or related businesses. It would be problematic if they were no longer allowed to because of Delton’s greed and stupidity.
Kanen couldn’t even imagine why the older elder wanted to kill a mere boy. Of course, this boy was someone who could defeat a pretty darn good Tier 4, which was alarming in itself. He had only heard of very few people who could manage to do that. And almost all of these people went on to become Tier 5s and above.
When they had arrived, and Kanen saw Colten beaten to a pulp, he couldn’t help but wonder how the boy had torn him apart without any sign of injuries. The boy was covered in blood from head to toe and his clothes were obviously cut to shreds. Maybe the Tier 3 had drunk a healing potion before they arrived, but it was still impressive that he managed to beat Colten with all limbs intact.
It was likely due to some powerful item that House Violet gave him, but just because you gave an insect a knife, didn't mean it could kill an adult. What he had accomplished still warranted praise.
Despite all of this, no matter how impressive a boy was, it didn’t mean Clan Genshen needed to kill them. This smelled of personal business or perhaps a way to clean up a prior mess. He was going to need to speak to Delton and likely a core elder to get things situated. It would be best to leave it at that and figure it out on their own.
Anything to prevent the Patriarch from getting involved. Nobody would enjoy what would happen if that man were bothered by this issue.
***
Julius POV
“So what was that all about?” He asked Lily.
“What do you mean?”
“Why were you guys with that elder from Clan Genshen?” He specified.
“We were trying to prevent Clan Genshen from making any more moves against you,” she said to him.
She must have seen the confused look on his face and went on to explain what had happened during their meeting with the elder.
After listening to her words, he couldn’t help but frown in concern. “So if I am understanding this correctly, you and your father levied House Violet’s status to protect me?”
She nodded.
“Why would you do that? Doesn’t that put your own family in jeopardy?” He directed this question more toward her father than to Lily. He couldn’t understand why she and her father would risk so much just for him. He knew that Clan Genshen wasn’t just a small House or Clan. They had power and couldn’t just be bullied like an insignificant lord.
“You don’t believe we shouldn’t have?” Lord Violet interrupted before Lily could say anything.
“I mean, it just sounds like a lot of trouble just for someone like me,” he said softly.
Lord Violet stared at him for quite a while, not saying a word. Eventually, he gave Julius a slight grin.
“Good friends are hard to come by. It is important that you fight to keep the ones you do find. So, a little trouble to help my daughter's friend is not a big deal. Let us worry about Clan Genshen, and you can worry about living your life.”
Julius looked down and smiled.
"Plus, you seem to have a bright future. It wouldn't hurt House Violet if we had another Marcus supporting us."
Lily swatted her father harshly.
***
It was only once he had returned to campus that he was able to review the notifications he got from the fight.
[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 14 -> lvl 15]
[Sage of Savagery lvl 15 -> lvl 16]
[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 8 -> lvl 9]
[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 1 -> lvl 2]
[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 10 -> lvl 11]
He was happy to see that he had gained a large increase in levels from this experience. It was a welcome sight and once again reminded him that fighting someone at a higher tier was the best way for him to get stronger.
He might need to start delving into Tier 4 rifts at this point. He still had the pass from Lord Lagos, but didn’t have the urgency to use it. Tier 3 rifts didn’t have that same level of danger they used to.
This was doubly so since the pass didn’t allow him to delve into the more dangerous Tier 3 rifts. It was something that was given to him when he was Tier 2, which made it kind of obsolete.
During the fight with the assassin, he had learned that he had been relying too much on his superior physical abilities as of late. When confronted with someone faster and stronger than him, he couldn’t find any openings.
The man had completely shut down any attempts he made to fight back. His lack of reach was particularly frustrating when fighting someone of superior physical abilities and technical skill.
The only thing that saved him from having to use [Phoenix Renewal] earlier was the improvements he made with his constructs, which he covered his forearms with. Just like how he created his spikes, he carved channels into the gauntlets, allowing himself to reinforce them with more mana than normal.
This let him block and parry the sharp slashes without worrying about them being unable to hold up. He was also lucky that he had such a powerful body enhancement skill in [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin]. While the skill didn’t grant him the power to contend head-to-head, it still let him be just fast enough to fight back.
The fight would have gone very differently if he hadn’t acquired the skill. Thus, seeing it gain a level wasn’t that surprising.
He was also happy to see that his aura skill had gained a level as well. He was beginning to truly appreciate the skill for what it was. At first glance, it was a skill that helped him control his aura better. However, after fighting another Tier 4, he was figuring out that the skill had a unique ability to withstand his opponent’s powerful willpower as well as holding its own against the Authorities of Tier 4s.
He doubted his skills and mana would maintain their integrity if he still had his previous aura skill. He made sure to send a grateful prayer to his soul space, where the skill was peacefully residing.
While it was a pain in the butt to control sometimes, it was at these times that it showed why it was worth the hassle.
After showing his appreciation for all of his skills, he finally looked at the one notification he was most excited about.
[Flash Step lvl 19 -> lvl 20]
[Flash Step] has advanced to level 20. Would you like to evolve the skill?
He accepted the notification without hesitation.
Appraising requirements…
Congratulations. Skills requirement met.
Congratulations. Concept requirement met.
Congratulations. Soul requirement met.
Skill [Flash Step] is evolving… possible advancements: [Instantaneous Step], [Flame Blitz], [Stride of Unyielding Force], [Devastating Burst], [Close Range Teleport], [Spatial Shift], and [Void Step]
Julius was pleasantly surprised to see all of the options. Seven options were a lot for a skill. But he also wasn’t that surprised. It was well known that [Flash Step] was one of the more common skills that was both powerful and highly adaptable to people with different styles of combat.
Still, seven was a lot to go over and filter through. It was going to take him a lot of time to go over everything and figure out which skill was the one he wanted.
It was at times like these that he wished the system had a way for him to experiment with the skills before he chose one of them. It would have made his life so much easier.
Comments
Winterwolf
This chapter put a big smile on my face <3
Some Guy
TFTC
Noah
IMO, Void feels like it fits much better thematically with his “Ruin” based skills and Aura If I were inventing a “Void Step” skill, I would make it a skill focused focused on helping him navigate the “Void” that his Spatial Tear brings him to. The two skills together would mean that he never needs to do any of the “Spatial Folding,” which most runes a protections are designed to defend against!
Caudyr
He probably thinks it'll be good training for him to do it himself, lol. Especially since he obviously has a good spatial affinity...though who knows how good it is. I'm hoping it's a "Perfect" one, personally (maybe even Void as well, if it's a separate affinity).
Silver Beard
sounds like a bulldozer skill in the sense that he can't be touched while moving.
Christopher Leland
Lol hahaha... I was thinking his combat prof he was training with Alice works too.
Christopher Leland
What about stride of unyielding force..... it fits the skill naming structure of a powerfull skill.... not sure what it does though....
Christopher Leland
Void step might only be possible once he is in the viod.... not totally sure. But even if it is another upgrade might let him use it like a teleport. But he could use spacial Crack then void step. But Crack skill might need to skill up to make it fast enough for combat.
ThoMiCroN
The System is badly designed to never provide descriptions of anything.
Jack Trowell
True but unyielding force imply it's more aligned with his force concept than the space one. For the three that seems spatial aligned he should really ask a spatial user for advise, good things he might know one or two of them
Amanda
Excited about the possible skill upgrades! He’ll probably go with a spatial skill i’m assuming but void step sounds so cool too! If he goes with that (or maybe for a later skill?) i’m so interested in void! Either way it’ll be awesome! Thanks for the chapter!
Sloth
Hm. I like the sound of void step, but we don’t really know what ‘void’ means as it pertains to the series and the magic system. Probably something to do with that in between space? That doesn’t sound quite right though, or Jerome or whatever his name was would have mentioned a void affinity rather than space, right? It could also just be what it says on the tin, and you just… stop existing in one place only to appear in another (which I think is distinctly different than teleporting). This could be powerful because it doesn’t sound like spatial locks would have any effect. Even tier 5s would struggle to capture Julius if this is the case. Throw in a stealth skill and Julius will make a rather terrifying guerrilla fighter.
Hamfist
He learned about the existence of the skill from his prof who was using it while sparring. He should at least be able to use it in training rooms if not use it to get around campus. It makes sense that the wards would prevent people from entering campus via teleport rather than prevent moving within the campus.
Silver Beard
The real problem will be leveling the new skill up. We know the campus has wards against teleportation, etc. Almost everyone who develops a space affinity does so at tier 4 and after graduation. So no matter how awesome void step is... if he can't use it on campus; that's going to be a problem going forward.
Tanner Lannister
Don’t they already know his identity but took the soul oath thing from Lily so they can’t really tell their families
Celas
Based on previous chapters. Stride of unyielding force is an advanced varient. Void Step is however tied to an advanced concept but is a generic skill.
Celas
No the law is first is the straight upgrade. All others are listed in order of unlock.
Profile Name
Tyftc
matthew strong
Void spent sounds like something that people consider weak because they dont push it and expirement with it.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Some many choices. Freely admit if I had a vote, I would vote for “void step”.
Orthneil Kelley Jr.
TFTC! Void step sounds OP and would fit considering his experience with spatial and then meeting that guy after his first rift
PatronTurtle
VOIIIIIIIID! Perfect void alignment theory looking better and better
Conrad Manaugh
Void step probably, because of the law of last is highest rarity
Zach
TFTC! If he doesn’t call Alice about this I’ll find a way to kill him despite his healing 😭
Adrian Auriat
void step sound better
Kyfe
It would he hilarious if it turned out there WAS some sort of debug mode or something that allowed experimentation somehow.
Jana
I somewhat hope that Julius starts telling his Friends about his past - Clan Genshen might no longer actively come for him (they still might try stupid shit) but others might - nothing keeps his uncle from hiring someone stupid to kill Julius and his friends might get caught in the crossfire. He does not need to tell them everything but making them aware of the danger feels like the right thing to do.
Blackjack
For the love of all that is holy, please have him ask Alice, ya know, his mentor that already has a spatial concept for advice on this.
Silver Beard
Suprised he didn't ask Lily's Father or Marcus to unlock the spatial ring.
Silver Beard
Void step seems like the most powerful; but I'm more partial to short range teleport. I suppose it all depends on how much time/will they take to execute. He could really use Alice or Marcus advice on this one.
William Johnson
Of the skills on offer my first thought would be [Close Range Teleport] since that seems like the kind of thing that could upgrade in a few ranks to a more general teleport skill. That said, [Spatial Shift] and [Void Step] sound similar and might have hidden depths. This seems like a good time to talk with Alice, she'd probably have a fair bet at figuring out more nuances of the skills from their names. On a less important note, the plot thickens with regards to the Conclave! It sounds like they've got some method to help crappy tier 5s break through the tier 6 bottleneck, which would certainly explain their influence. Thanks for the chapter!
Sarah Ott
Spatial shift or void step.
NoctisMi
The last three options sound like the best ones to go with to pick from. I personally hope it's going to be void step. Could be potentially lead to some really impressive mastery later on
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Mitchell Prevost
TFTC
Kbzzy
Defo void step
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Mitchell Calhoun
Void step sounds wild
Oskar
Thanks for the chapter 😁
